Hello & Welcome back to Ease Your Financial Payne! Spring weather is finally here so we’ve spent quite a lot of time outside this month. It feels so amazing to finally get some natural vitamin D again!
Some things that happened this month: Brandon (my husband) is now fully vaccinated and so is a lot of our family now! So we’ve been spending time with them. I got my first shot and have my second shot in a couple of days, then we’re good to go! Also, I passed out for the first time in my life the other night after standing up to get out of my bath. And no, it’s not from the vaccine, I got my first shot 2 weeks before this even happened & haven’t gotten my second shot yet. When I did, I hit my head hard and scraped my arm on the stone accent trim around our bathroom. So that wasn’t fun, but somehow I didn’t really have any pain & didn’t get a concussion, so that’s good! It was scary waking up naked on the floor of my bathroom not knowing what happened though. I now have a mark on my forehead that’s going to be there for awhile.
Anyway..
In April, my friend Eric & I released two more podcast episodes, so feel free to check those out on Apple or Spotify at Money For Everyone. We upload bi-weekly on Monday Mornings. 🙂
Some unexpected expenses did happen this month. Last month, we had the fence fall over & some plumbing issues (we still haven’t paid for a new fence, we are waiting for lumber prices to go down again). This month, I had to get some maintenance done on my car that cost a total of $240 (now I have an electrical problem too I have to get checked out & pay for, so who knows how much that will cost.), Leo (our cat) is going to the vet on May 1st, but that should only be about $100, and then we got the bill for Brandon’s Car Tabs we will have to renew soon ($198). Also, our annual billing for our life insurance came out this month to for $120. So it was a frustratingly expensive month.. BUT
On May 1st we are still putting an extra $2,000 on Brandon’s car, so that will be calculated in on next month’s financial update. This is a part of our plan to get it paid off by the end on August! After this check, we will only owe about $8,000 on it. Progress! We did not invest any money this month. We are pulling back on investing for a while & focusing on paying off the car for now.
Also, we are on track to hit $100,000 Net Worth in August! My Birthday, our Anniversary, and a rescheduled concert (that we’re super excited about) from 2020 are in August as well, so there will be a lot to celebrate, we’re looking forward to it!
We are still planning on selling my car, since it is older & can’t haul as much when compared to Brandon’s car. Once we sell my car, we will get a bike & put the cash we get towards paying off Brandon’s car or in savings. I have driven my car maybe 10x in the last year, and a lot of those times could have been avoided anyway, so it just no longer makes financial sense to keep it. We are still paying for insurance, new tires, oil changes, wiper blades, tabs, etc. to only use it 10x a year… So we’re finally going to bite the bullet and just have to get more creative with getting to & from work sometimes. The amount we have been spending on the vehicle does not make sense for the use we get out of it. Even though the car is paid off, it is still costing us on average $100/month because of insurance and other car maintenance. So if I only use my car once a month, that’s $100 per ride!! I’d rather have one of us pay $8 once a month for a Lyft to work or just drop each other off. BUT with restrictions lifting, I may have to start going back in the office more. So we might wait until next year to sell it.
Total Financial Independence Goal Numbers:
- $900,000 Invested
- $36,000 In Savings
- $0 Debt
- Both of us have the choice to leave any & all employment
Our Partial Financial Independence Goal Numbers:
- $100,000+ invested, for retirement.
- $25,000+ In Savings for Emergencies.
- An HSA we are Maxing out every year while working for Medical Expenses. (No specific Goal Number)
- $0 Personal Debt- No Mortgage or Car Payment brings down our expenses a ton ($1,540/month).
- With husband & I working part time (or one of us not at all).
Our Current Numbers as of May 1st, 2021:
- $39,377.69 Invested.
- $11,562.90 In Savings.
- No HSA yet, we will get one Oct. 2022.
- -$138,939.92 Total Debt. (House & Car)
- We are both still working full time.
Total amount needed to reach partial F.I. Goals: $212,999.33
Total amount needed to reach total F.I.R.E. Goals: $1,023,999.33
Ease Your Financial Payne 